Promise Kept
by anastasisrick
Summary: Ianto cannot understand why he's getting those looks while Jack's trying to figure out why he's alone in the Hub.t why he's alone in the Hub


Title: Promise kept

Fandom: Torchwood

Pairing: Jack/Ianto

Rate: PG or PG 13 (top)

Length: 1500 words

Spoilers: Meat, Something Borrowed

Disclaimer: I do not own Torchwood and I make no money of it

**Promise Kept**

The urgent whispering came to an abrupt halt when Ianto brought Owen and Tosh their coffees. The youngest of the three Torchwood employees wondered about Owen's look that was something between gleeful and sad. He stood straight, his hands warm where they were touching the mug. Ianto's wrists and thumps ached, his knee was protesting and his head was filled with brutal, bloody images.

He just wanted to be alone….

… wrapped in soft sheets and blankets.

With Jack being his dutiful doctor, or nurse, Ianto wasn't feeling all that picky at the moment.

Gwen's and Jack's shouting to each other interrupted his musings.

"I wouldn't know anything different."

"I would!"

Jack's shout was heard just as clearly as Gwen's declaration. Bloody drama queens, Ianto thought. The both of them. He turned to share the rolling of eyes with his two remaining team mates and was surprised to see they weren't sharing his feeling.

Were they looking at him strangely? With pity written in their expressive eyes?

Why?

"Sorry, mate!" Owen said patting him on the back. Tosh hugged him tightly for reasons he couldn't begin to comprehend. His bruises protested to both actions though.

"You should go home." Tosh offered quietly.

"Why?"

"Because you need to rest tea-boy. Sleep it off…"

Was Owen being kind? Was there any alien influence?

Do wonders never cease?

"Okay, I'll go inform Jack we're leaving…"

"No need to." The medic said, anger colouring his voice.

Hm… interesting. What was this all about?

It took Ianto two hours, a hot shower and two glasses of wine –he shouldn't drink due to the meds Owen had given him- to realize what the strange behaviour meant.

And he started laughing.

Jack discovered he was alone in the Hub when he got out of his office looking for Owen. A quick glance around and then a check with the CCTV proved him that Ianto had left with Owen and Tosh. His cell-phone appeared in his hand seemingly out of nowhere and he speed dialed Ianto….

… who had his cell turned off.

Little, red lights made their appearance inside Jack's head. Ianto was never out of reach. Little, red lights felt really uncomfortable inside Jack's mind at the moment.

He called Owen.

"What?" Came the not so cordial question. The angry tone didn't deter Jack.

"Where's Ianto?"

"His home."

"His phone is turned off. I can't reach him."

"Tosh turned it off when he went to shower."

"Why?"

"Because we didn't want you to interrupt his rest…"

"Did it occur to you I might be worried about him?" Jack asked angrily.

"No!" And Owen hung up.

Jack was confused. He tried to speak with Tosh but she didn't seem overly inclined to speak to him. There was only one person left to explain it to him.

His drive to Ianto's was quick and uneventful. Jack unlocked the door and walked in the apartment as quietly as possible not wanting to disrupt Ianto's rest and he almost stopped breathing when he found the young man. It was painful to watch him.

Ianto was clutching his sides, arms wrapped tightly around his upper body, head bent down. He was crying.

"God it hurts…" Jack's lover moaned in pain between sobs. Had he been that hurt? And he hadn't noticed. Jack felt his stomach tightening and heart clenching at the sight.

"Ianto…" He called softly as he walked around the sofa and kneeled down in front of said man. Tired, pained, blue eyes looked up at him. Wet eyelashes touched the sensitive skin under his eyes as Ianto blinked and shuddered.

Jack's arms went instantly around him. "What's wrong, Yan?" He asked afraid of the answer. He settled his lover's head under his chin on his chest and held onto him tightly.

"It hurts…" Ianto answered wounding his arms around Jack trying to get comfortable. "… to laugh!"

"Laugh?" Jack asked and Ianto nodded against his chest. "You were laughing?" There was something akin to disbelief in his voice that made Ianto pull aback a bit to look at Jack.

"Yes. Why? What did you think?"

"Nothing!" Jack said straight away. "Why were you laughing?"

"Tosh and Owen got angry with you."

"I got that. Tosh went to extremes. She even turned off your cell so I wouldn't be able to call you."

"What?" It was Ianto's turn to stare at Jack incredulously but his lover kept him where he was and leaned to kiss the young man's eyelids. "Why would she… on never mind. Forget it! I get it."

"Care to share?" Jack asked.

"Sure. They came to the conclusion you want Gwen and you're using me. I think Gwen had the same idea too…"

"What?"

"Oh come on, Jack. Can you blame them? You've got to admit that you do stare at her as if she's the best thing in Earth, probably other planets too…" Jack's left hand went to Ianto's face, touching the pale cheek tenderly.

"Are you jealous?"

"Of course not." Jack caught the slight hesitation at Ianto's response immediately.

"OK, do you believe I care about Gwen more than you?"

Ianto's eyes locked on his, as if he was searching for something and Jack once again marveled at how beautiful his lover's face was. "Ianto? Do you believe it?"

"Sometimes… sometimes I see you and think you'd prefer to be with Gwen." He raised his hand up to stop Jack who had opened his mouth to say something. "Sometimes you make it so easy to think that, that I want to hit something. And then, the feeling passes and I just feel stupid for being jealous. Ouch…" Ianto moaned as he tried to move.

"What is it?"

"My back aches." Jack moved their bodies trying to accommodate Ianto's injuries never occurring to any of them they would be more comfortable on the sofa or even better their bed. When he had settled Ianto against him, he asked.

"You said some times. What about the rest of the time?"

"The rest of the time…" Ianto thought and smiled. "Well the rest of the time, I think… no, I know that if you wanted Gwen you wouldn't be with me. Nothing and no one could stop you from being with her seeing that she wouldn't reject the idea either." Ianto both hands cupped Jack's face tenderly. "I wouldn't be here if I thought I was second choice, Jack." That was a promise and Jack knew Ianto meant it. He acknowledged it by tightening his arms around the leaner man - who had put on some weight lately much to Jack's delight.

"What about tonight?"

"Tonight? I would have retconned Rhys, Jack, but then again maybe I would have been wrong."

"No I mean about Tosh and Owen's ideas."

Ianto laughed again. "What? Your wanting to keep Gwen around even though she went against your orders? Is that supposed to make me jealous? Jack, seriously, I think that Gwen's going against you and you putting up with her compared to giving your forgiveness, time, affection and care to someone who killed two innocent people in the Hub…."

"You didn't kill them!"

"No, the cyberman killed them, but the cyberman was inside the woman I loved, which I brought in your home secretly. Sorry to say, but if Owen and Tosh think that today was your declaration of love to Gwen, what you offered to me those days was a golden ring and the promise of forever. It doesn't even compare!"

"And if it was?"

Ianto blinked. And again. "Then I'd say I do, I think."

Jack pulled Ianto tightly against him. He was in twenty first century Earth and he had found a person not only to accept him but to love and want him as he was. And one day he'd lose him.

"Promise me Ianto." He said as he was kissing his lips and Ianto tried to reciprocate. "Promise me…"

"What?"

"Don't let me hurt you. I don't do it on purpose. And I don't understand it at times. If I go far with it, come and stop me. Promise me." He said crashing his lips to the other man's.

Ianto said nothing; he just nodded and let his tongue explore his lover's mouth. "I think we need to get up and move somewhere much more comfortable and warm."

Jack couldn't agree more.

A whole month later, Ianto saw Tosh and Owen looking at him with the same pity he had detected earlier. He turned his eyes away to find Jack dancing with Gwen. It seemed intimate, but Ianto knew the truth. Jack was just being Jack; he didn't understand how it looked.

He cut the dance and took his lover in his arms whispering my ear. "I promise."

Jack didn't understand what Ianto meant that moment. He did when later that night he was held in strong arms and warmth. He didn't apologize. He just kissed the sleeping man by his side and whispered.

"Thank you."

Finis


End file.
